I’ve enjoyed Garth Nix’s tales of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz (you can read my review here) so I decided to try Nix’s new series: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (2020) and The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (2023). As you can see on the cover of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London above, the phrase “Authorized to Kill…And Sell Books” drew me in!

Susan Arkshaw has just turned 18 and before she goes off to art school, she wants to learn who her father was. Her mother, Jassmine (yes, two “s”s), seems to have a faulty memory of who Susan’s father was. So Susan goes to London to visit a family friend, “Uncle Frank (aka,Frank Thringley, Crime Boss).

Susan’s stay at Uncle Frank’s mansion is cut short by a violent incident where Susan meets Merlin. “Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.” Merlin and Susan are chased by a creepy creature called The Shuck, just one of the many magical creatures who will threaten them in this book.

Susan’s quest to find her father becomes problematic as she learns she both human and magical. And she’s going to have to tap her powers in order to survive.

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath takes place two years after the events of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. Merlin is trapped in a magical maze in a bubble reality and Susan has to go there to draw a magic map that will bring them both back to Bath. Susan learns another magical entity is out to get her and the Booksellers of Bath might not be enough to save her. If you’re in the mood for some exciting adventures full of action and magic, give these two Garth Nix books a try! GRADE: B+ (for both)

Rod Serling’s Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves from 1963 seems like a perfect anthology to include in the run-up to the Halloween month of October. My favorite story is Jack Sharkey’s “The Final Ingredient” where a young woman who wants to be a witch finds her spells not working…until she discovers the final ingredient.

Two classic stories, Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and Kipling’s “The Mark of the Beast,” show witches, warlocks and werewolves engaged writers more than a century ago.

I remember reading Fritz Leiber’s “Hatchery of Dreams” in Fantastic back in 1961 and this story has lost none of its power decades later. A coven of witches are threatened by technology. Rod Serling’s Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves delivers entertaining stories for the spooky season. GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

vii · Introduction · Rod Serling · i

1 · The Amulet · Gordon R. Dickson · ss F&SF Apr 1959

17 · The Story of Sidi Nonman · Anon. · ss

27 · The Final Ingredient · Jack Sharkey · ss F&SF Aug 1960

36 · Blind Alley · Malcolm Jameson · nv Unknown Worlds Jun 1943

69 · Young Goodman Brown · Nathaniel Hawthorne · ss New England Magazine Apr 1835

82 · The Chestnut Beads [Migma] · Jane Roberts · nv F&SF Oct 1957

109 · Hatchery of Dreams · Fritz Leiber · ss Fantastic Nov 1961

122 · The Mark of the Beast · Rudyard Kipling · ss The Pioneer Jul 12 1890 (+1)

134 · And Not Quite Human · Joe L. Hensley · ss Beyond Fantasy Fiction Sep 1953

141 · Wolves Don’t Cry · Bruce Elliott · ss F&SF Apr 1954

152 · The Black Retriever · Charles G. Finney · ss F&SF Oct 1958

161 · Witch Trials and the Law · Charles Mackay · ar 1841

Here are two different perceives on the music of 1970. Rock On 1970 includes B. B. King’s classic “The Thrill is Gone.” But B. J. Thomas’s “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid might drive some of you to annoyance. I haven’t heard Eddie Holman’s “Hey There Lonely Girl” in decades. And then there’s Brian Hyland’s iconic “Gypsy Woman.” GRADE: B

ULTIMATE SEVENTIES 1970 is the first volume of a 10-CD Time-Life set. To my ears, this CD compilation does a better job at capturing the essence of 1970 from the lava lamp on the cover to the song selection. The first two songs, CCR’s “Up Around the Bend” (now the background music to a Ford truck commercial) and Edwin Starr’s “War” remind me of 1970. Love Van Morrison’s “Domino.” I remember Three Dog Night’s “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” being on heavy rotation in 1970 on the radio stations I listened to.

And, there are just more hits on ULTIMATE SEVENTIES 1970: Santana’s “Black Magic Woman,” James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” Erie Clapton’s “After Midnight,” and Smokey Robinson and The Miracle’s “Tears of a Clown.”

Do you remember these song from 53 years ago? Any favorites? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

1	The Shocking Blue*–	Venus	2:58
2	Brian Hyland–	Gypsy Woman	2:33
3	B.B. King–	The Thrill Is Gone	5:25
4	Sugarloaf–	Green-Eyed Lady	3:36
5	Ray Stevens–	Everything Is Beautiful	3:27
6	B.J. Thomas–	Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head	2:56
7	Norman Greenbaum–	Spirit In The Sky	4:00
8	The Hollies–	He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother	4:14
9	Three Dog Night–	Mama Told Me (Not To Come)	3:17
10	Eddie Holman–	Hey There Lonely Girl	3:33
11	The Grass Roots–	Temptation Eyes	2:37
12	Steppenwolf–	Hey Lawdy Mama	2:54

TRACK LIST:

1	Creedence Clearwater Revival–	Up Around The Bend
2	Edwin Starr–	War
3	Van Morrison–	Domino
4	Three Dog Night–	Mama Told Me (Not To Come)
5	The Jaggerz–	The Rapper
6	The Grateful Dead–	Uncle John’s Band
7	Norman Greenbaum–	Spirit In The Sky
8	Joe Cocker–	The Letter
9	Santana–	Black Magic Woman
10	The Moments–	Love On A Two-Way Street
11	The Hollies–	He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
12	The Jackson 5–	ABC
13	The Guess Who–	American Woman
14	Eric Clapton–	After Midnight
15	Sugarloaf–	Green-Eyed Lady
16	James Taylor –	Fire And Rain
17	Smokey Robinson And The Miracles*–	The Tears Of A Clown
18	Bee Gees–	Lonely Days
19	Blues Image–	Ride Captain Ride
20	Free–	All Right Now
21	Sly & The Family Stone–	Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)

Garth Nix, in his informative Introduction, tells the origin story of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz. Nix, like many of us, is a fan of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series of stories of adventurers. Some of that Leiber magic shows up in these stories.

The second story, “Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarskoe
–my favorite–features a female pirate and some brutal warfare. Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz travel as mercenaries in a feudal world. But their real secret mission is to protect the Earth from malicious godlets who threaten it. Mister Fitz is a puppet with sorcerous powers.

I reviewed the earlier Subterranean Press collection of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz stories (you can read my review here. The new edition adds seven more stories to the three in the previous collection. Great stories for Summer Reading! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction — ix

Map: The world of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz — xii

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz go to war again — 1

Beyond the sea gate of the scholar-pirates of Sarsköe — 39

A suitable present for a sorcerous puppet — 81

Losing her divinity –97

A cargo of ivories — 119

Home Is the haunter — 140

A long, cold trail — 195

Cut me another quill, Mister Fitz — 231

The field of fallen foe — 261

Acknowledgements — 283

Credits — 285

Disney+ dropped the first two episodes (of eight) last week. Ahsoka is an American television miniseries created and written by Dave Filoni for Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise and a spin-off from the series The Mandalorian, taking place in the same timeframe as that series and its other interconnected spin-offs after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983), while also serving as a continuation to the animated series Star Wars Rebels. The series follows Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) as she investigates an emerging threat to the galaxy following the fall of the Empire.

Ahsoka trained with Anakin Skywalker before Anakin turned to the Dark Side. After evil Emperor Palpatine initiates Order 66 (commanding the execution of all Jedi) toward the Revenge of the Sith, Ahsoka flees to the Outer Rim and goes into hiding. Later, she joins the Rebel Alliance.

Elements of the defeated Empire hope to regenerate their cause by obtaining a star map to the location of Grand Admiral Thrawn and potentially reigning the Empire. Ahsoka and her Palawan (young Jedi in training) Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren move to stop the conspiracy.

I also like Mary Elizabeth Winstead as General Hera Syndulla who assists Ahsoka and Wren. If you’re a Star War fan, you’ll enjoy this series. Are you a Star Wars fan? GRADE: Incomplete but trending towards a B+

If you love poetry as much as I do, you’ll delight in Brad Leithauser’s Rhyme’s Rooms: The Architecture of Poetry (2022). Leithauser takes a deep dive into what poetry is and how it works. I learned something new on practically every page.

Leithauser discusses over 100 poets and quotes lines from about 50 poets from Gwendolyn Brooks to Shakespeare. On top of that, Leithauser quotes lyrics from Cole Porter to Lennon & McCartney. Within his analysis of the parts of poetry, Leithauser makes some unique connections; here’s an example of enjambments:

“One of the choicest enjambments I know belongs to under appreciated comic novelist Peter de Vries (1910-1993). His target is Byron’s ‘She Walks in Beauty,’ which begins

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudlesss climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes…

Here is de Vries:

She walks in beauty like the night

Watchman on appointed rounds,

In the nursery, checking children’s

Winter respiratory sounds.

Oh, the modern housewife! What a fall from grace from a supernal goddess to a shuffling, overburdened mom surrounded by wheezing children, and the whole comical cascade taking place in the which space between night and Watchman.” (p. 65)

While Leithauser sometimes deals with a dozen poets per page–both known and unknown (at least to me)–his examples always clarify the point he’s trying to make. For example, Leithauser stresses the difference between prose and poetry. “I adore Anthony Trollope’s portly novels (I’ve read more books by him, I suppose, than any other author), but I enter them with some effort. After two or three chapters, I’m typically not wholly engaged, and I proceed partly out of the justified confidence that an enchanter’s spell is indeed being woven, albeit gradually. By contrast, after devoting fifteen minutes to reading Tennyson closely, I’ve undergone a speedy immersion into nineteenth-century cadences, a nineteenth-century sensibility. Recall Marilyn Monroe: Poetry saves time. Or put it another way: Poetry asks us to slow down so we may speed up. Of all literary genres, poetry is the most successful time traveler.” (p. 327)

Rhyme’s Rooms is one of the best books on poetry that I’ve ever read. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Author’s Note ix

Foreword: A First Step, A First Stop xi

Chapter 1 Meeting the Funesians 3

Chapter 2 The Prosodic Contract 16

Chapter 3 Poetic Architecture 29

Chapter 4 Stanzas 42

Chapter 5 Enjambment 54

Chapter 6 Defining and Refining 67

Chapter 7 The Marriage of Meter and Rhyme (I) 81

Chapter 8 Iambic Pentameter 95

Chapter 9 Iambic Tetrameter 110

Chapter 10 Rhyme and Rhyme Decay 125

Chapter 11 Spelling and the Unexpected Rhyme 139

Chapter 12 Rhyme Poverty, Rhyme Richness 154

Chapter 13 Rhymes, and How We Really Talk 166

Chapter 14 Off Rhyme: When Good Rhymes Go Bad 178

Chapter 15 Rim Rhyme 192

Chapter 16 The Marriage of Meter and Rhyme (II) 203

Chapter 17 Wordplay and Concision 217

Chapter 18 The Look of Poetry 229

Chapter 19 Song Lyrics 244

Chapter 20 Poetry and Folly 261

Chapter 21 Dining with the Funesians 277

Chapter 22 Drinking with the Funesians 294

Chapter 23 The Essential Conservatism of Poetry 308

Chapter 24 The Essential Radicalism of Poetry 324

Glossary 343

Permissions Credits 347

Acknowledgments 349

I’ve reviewed novels by Daniel Boyd (aka, Dan Stumpf) and you can check out those posts here and here. This new novel, Aesop’s Travels, is narrated by Beefy Beaumont, proprietor of the Queen of Egypt saloon in Greenfield, located in Traill County in the State of North Dakota near the end of the 19th Century.

Beefy’s best friend, gambler Charlie Greenfield, a fixture in the saloon, finds himself charged with the murder of his brother Younger Harrow.

While Beefy works on trying to clear his friend before he’s hung from the gallows being built down the street, Beefy also has to deal with the challenges of running a business. When Beefy took over the Queen of Egypt salloon, he found an abused young boy living in a crate in the back. Beefy renames the boy Little Aesop and reads to the lad every night from Aesop’s Fables to educate him.

The resolution of Charlie’s fate is messy and leads to Beefy, Little Aesop, a gunfighter named Johnny Pesos, a guide named Dawg, and Charlie to take a dangerous journey. The wild card in the mix is Maudie Hubbard, a woman who loves Charlie while Beefy pines for her affection.

Little Aesop surprises everyone with an unexpected talent. Beefy and the group travel while killers lurk in their path. If you’re looking for a well told story with a classic Western setting and compelling characters, don’t miss Aesop’s Travels. I consider Aesop’s Travels Dan Stumpf’s best book! GRADE: A

I heard a Nation Public Radio interview with Claire-Louise Bennett. Bennett talked about Checkout 19 as a book about books. That motivated me to take Checkout 19 from my local public Library and read it. This is a sample of Bennett’s approach:

“I read Henry Miller for the first time in France, one evening while my friend was out with her boyfriend, and I hated it. I found its bombastically vulgar language unbearable, which made me feel disappointed in myself and I wondered if perhaps I’d happened upon on of his duds and if I tried another I would very likely enjoy it more and understand right away why people consider him to be such a brilliant writer. I still haven’t tried another so as far as I’m concerned Anais Ain is a much better writer than he is, not that they need to be compared of course, it just gets on my nerves that for expressing a comparable eschewal of sexual and artistic convention she is thought so little of and he so much.” (p. 116-117).

Sometimes, Bennett just lists titles without much analysis. Sometimes Bennett rambles on with her imagination and dreams as random titles tickle her consciousness. I was underwhelmed by Bennett’s performance. GRADE: C

Thanks to Todd Mason alerting me to the publishing of this book by the North East Science Fiction Association (NESFA) Press. I ordered Living in the Future immediately and read it as soon as it arrived.

I’m a huge fan of Robert Silverberg’s work and have read most of his fiction. However, this new volume collects much of Silverberg’s non-fiction: essays, interviews, book reviews, and book Introductions. Just check out the Table of Contents to see all the topics Silverberg covers!

I enjoyed Silverberg’s writings on his colleagues. And who knew Silverberg had thoughts about Tarzan at the Earth’s Core? If you’re a Robert Silverberg fan, Living in the Future is a must-buy! If you’re interested in Science Fiction, here are some wonderful writings by one of the genre’s best writers. Highly recommended! Are you a fan of Robert Silverberg? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreward — 11

ONE: BEGINNINGS

fanmag (1953) — 23

Twin Prophets of Doom (1953) — 31

Cosmic Configuration (1954) — 35

Some Book Reviews (1958-1964) — 43

SF and Escape Literature (1962) — 52

Diversity in Science Fiction (1969) — 59

TWO: WHAT IS SCIENCE FICTION?

Heidelberg Convention Gaues of Honor Speech (1970) — 65

Science Fiction 101: Two Selections (1987) — 81

Complications, with Elegance (1987) — 82

Flowing from Right to Ring (1987) — 89

“Reflections” (House Names) (1992) — 103

The Best is Yet To Be…Right? (1999) — 107

The War of the Worlds (2005) — 112

The Way it Was (2006) — 125

Rereading Stapledon I (2008) — 135

Rereading Stapledon II (2008) — 140

Rereading Van Vogt (2009) — 145

In the Bush of Ghosts (2009) — 150

Science Fiction as Prophecy (2010) — 155

Rereading Kornbluth (2010) — 163

A Relic of Antiquity (2011) — 168

The Ruin (2011) — T173

Anthologies (2012) — 177

Decline and Fall (2012) — 182

Translations (2013) — 187

Translations II (2013) — 192

The Year’s Best Science Fiction (2013) — 192

Was Jules Vern a Science-Fiction Writer? (2014) — 203

Robert A. Heinlein, Author of The Martian Chronicles (2014) — 208

One-Hit Wonders (2015) — 213

Star (Psi Cassiopeia ) (2015) — 217

Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft (2016) — 222

The Software of Magic (2016) — 227

THREE: INTERVIEWS

The Alien Quack, May 1976, Interviewer Sara Marks — 235

Vector, Feb. 1976. Interviewer: Malcolm Edwards — 239

Vector, Aug. 1975. Interviewer. Chris Fowler — 246

SF & F, Winter 1978. Interviewer: Nancy Mangini — 259

Future Life, Aug. 1979. Interviewer: Jeffrey Elliot — 275

Dream Makers, 1980. Interviewer: Charles Platt — 282

Fantasy Newsletter, Jun-Jul 1983. Interviewer: Melissa Mia Hall — 289

Strange Horizons, Dec. 2000. Interviewer: David Horwich — 297

Locus, Mar. 2004. Interviewer: Charles N. Brown — 303

FOUR: SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

The Cleve Cartmill Affair (2003) — 319

The Cleve Cartmill Affair II (2003) — 324

The Kraken (2006) — 329

The Thumb on the Dinosaur’s Nose (2006) — 334

The Thumb on the Dinosaur’s Nose II (2006) — 339

Calling Dr. Asimov! (2010) — 344

The Search for Other Earths (2010) — 349

The Strange Case of the Patagonian Giants (2011) — 354

Looking for Atlantis (2013) — 359

Not Even Wrong (2013) — 364

The Plurality of Worlds (2014) — 369

The Plurality of Worlds: A Contrarian View (2014) — 374

Borges, Leinster, Google (2014) — 379

Reunite Gondwanaland (2015) — 384

Non-Asimovian Robots (2015) — 389

World to End Last Month (2015) — 394

Dead as a Dodo (2016) — 399

The Richard Hakluyt of Space (2016) — 404

Two Cheers for Piltdown Man (2017) — 409

FIVE: THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

The Future of Urban Living (1980) — 417

…And Then There Were Six (1995) — 423

Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (1997) — 428

Theme-Parking the Past (2003) — 433

Doomsday (2009) — 438

Nothing New Under the Sun (2011) — 443

Earth is the Strangest Planet (2011) — 448

My Voyage to Atlantis (2012) — 453

John Frum, He Come (2013) — 458

Fimbulwinter (2016) — 463

SIX: BEING A WRITER

The Radish of All Evil (2001) — 471

The Plot Genie (2011) — 475

More About the Plot Genie (2011) — 480

The Raft of the Medusa (2013) — 485

Praising or Banning (2014) — 490

The Sixth Palace (2015) — 495

Writing Under the Influence (2016) — 500

Person from Porlock (2016) — 505

“‘Darn,’ he smiled.” (2016) — 510

SEVEN: COLLEAGUES

About Robert Sheckley (1980) — 517

Six Degrees of Robert Silverberg (2000) — 519

Prodigies (2003) — 523

Jack Williamson (2010) — 528

Fred (2011) — 535

Clifford D. Simak (2013) — 539

Rog Phillips (2014) — 544

Philip Jose Farmer (2016) — 553

EIGHT: INTRODUCTIONS

The Shadow Out of Time, H. P. Lovecraft (1995) — 559

Killdeer! (Volume Three, Collected Short Stories), Theodore Sturgeon (1996) — 563

Antarctica, Kim Stanley Robinson (1997) — 569

Nightwings, Robert Silverberg (2001) — 575

Shardik, Richard Adams (2001) — 581

The Disappearance, Philip Wylie (2004) — 585

Emphyrio, Jack Vance (2007) — 591

When the Great Days Come, Gardner Dozois (2011) — 597

Clarges, Jack Vance (2016) — 603

NINE: A FEW PERSONAL ITEMS

The Dinosaur in the Living Room (1996) — 611

The Realm of Prester John (1996) — 615

The Ablative Absolute (1996) — 620

Memories of a Curious Childhood (1997) — 625

Voyage to the Far Side of the Moon I (1998) — 629

Voyage to the Far Side of the Moon II (1998) — 633

Crimes of My Youth (1998) — 638

Fragments Out of Time I (2004) — 643

Fragments Out of Time II (2004) — 648

Aladdin’s Cave (2008) — 652

It Wasn’t All That Easy (2009) — 657

Libraries (2012) — 662

My Desk (2013) — 667

Flashing Before My Eyes (2014) — 672

My Trip to the Future (2016) — 677

I was familiar with all the songs on Barry Williams Presents One-Hit Wonders of the 70s except for “Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled On) by Reunion from 1974–until I listened to it. It’s a patter song like Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Here’s how the first verse goes:

B.B. Bumble and the Stingers, Mott the Hoople, Ray Charles Singers
Lonnie Mack and twangin’ Eddie, here’s my ring, we’re goin’ steady
Take it easy, take me higher, liar liar, house on fire
Loco-motion, Poco, Passion, Deeper Purple, Satisfaction
Baby baby, gotta gotta, gimme gimme, gettin’ hotter
Sammy’s cookin’, Lesley Gore, Ritchie Valens, end of story
Mahavishnu, Fujiyama, Kama Sutra, Rama Lama
Richard Perry, Spector, Barry, Righteous, Archies, Nilsson Harry
Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko Bop it, Fats is back and Finger Poppin’

And it goes on from there. I literally have NOT heard “Life is a Rock” since 1974! Even though these are One-Hit wonders, some of these songs live on in more successful cover versions. Brooks & Dunn had a hit with B. W. Stevenson’s “My Maria” in 1996 that made it to Number One on the Country & Western charts.  Laura Branigan covered Vicki Sue Robinson’s “Turn the Beat Around” in 1990 and Gloria Estefan released her version in 1994.

Many of these songs are One-Hit Wonders for a reason. Do you remember them? Any favorites here? GRADE: B-

TRACK LIST:

1	Wild Cherry–	Play That Funky Music
2	B. W. Stevenson*–	My Maria
3	Brewer & Shipley*–	One Toke Over The Line
4	Starland Vocal Band–	Afternoon Delight
5	Reunion (3)–	Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)
6	Billy Swan–	I Can Help
7	Mungo Jerry–	In The Summertime
8	Terry Jacks–	Seasons In The Sun
9	Paper Lace–	The Night Chicago Died
10	Climax (6)–	Precious And Few
11	Stories–	Brother Louie
12	Dave Loggins–	Please Come To Boston
13	First Class (3)–	Beach Baby
14	The 5 Stairsteps*–	O-o-h Child
15	Vicki Sue Robinson–	Turn The Beat Around
16	Dan Hill–	Sometimes When We Touch
17	Lynn Anderson–	Rose Garden
18	Edison Lighthouse–	Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)
19	Wadsworth Mansion–	Sweet Mary
20	Vicki Lawrence–	The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia